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Images copyright M. Studinger |
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GAMBIT
Antarctic Research: Peering Through The Ice
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In the dead of winter 2008, when most of us wouldn’t consider traveling to a location that promises even colder temperatures and more severe conditions, a team of scientists will venture to the coldest, most remote location on Earth. Why? This team of U. S. Antarctic scientists, working with international partners from Britain, Germany, Australia, and China, will complete the first comprehensive study of the Gamburtsev Mountains, found in the deep interior of East Antarctica and hidden several miles beneath the thick ice sheet! Looking at the image above it is hard to imagine this continent as more than an icy block - but scientists feel the secrets hidden deep in the heart of Antarctica hold the key to a deeper understanding of the early history of the Earth.
To travel with the scientists to this remote location we have teamed up with the Exploratorium International Polar Year Program called Ice Stories. The GAMBIT research project will be active on this site starting November 2008. You can visit this site currently for other IPY research projects.
Check out the latest dispatches from the Arctic and Antarctica in Ice Stories: Dispatches from Polar Scientists. Brought to you by the Exploratorium
The Project
The GAMBIT project focuses on an invisible world in one of the most remote areas on Earth, just west of the Pole of Inaccessibility, in East Antarctica. Organized as part of a large international effort through the fourth International Polar Year, the project will peel back the roughly 2 mile deep layer of million year old glacial ice, to expose the mountains and lakes hidden below. The project involves several intersecting areas of research.
The Mountains: Developing an understanding of the origin and the influences of the Subglacial Gamburtsev Mountains. The Gamburtsev Mountains positioned deep in East Antarctica, resting beneath the ice, lie below the highest, and perhaps the coldest, place on the East Antarctic Ice Sheet - ‘Dome A’. Discovered 50 years ago, in the International Geophysical Year, the very origin of these mountains remains a complete mystery. What caused them to ever be formed?
Subglacial Lakes: Through the use of airborne radar and satellite measurements more than 200 subglacial lakes have been located in Antarctica. Beneath the ice sheet water moves between the lakes in a complex system of sub-ice rivers, streams and even swamps. Scientists believe water under the ice sheet greases the underside of the ice making the ice sheet slide faster. The moving water seems to have a direct link to ice sheet stability.
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| Photo Credit:Kendrick Taylor, DRI, University of Nevada-Reno. |
Climate: Much of what we know about climate change on our planet comes from ice cores. Ice cores are like climate libraries, capturing gases and atmospheric particles that provide information on the climate from earlier ice ages and warm periods. Many scientists hypothesize the oldest ice on the planet exists close to Dome A, so an ice core from this region will reveal the longest history of planetary change. Through our international collaborations, ice core samples will be recovered from this last great unknown region of Antarctica. Scientists hope that ice cores collected from Dome A will contain information that will shed new light on the origins of the Antarctic ice sheet and its role in future climate change. The image above shows an ice core assembly being put together.
